Barry Island, Wales, UK

After living in Cardiff for a year and having moved out 8 months ago, I finally visited Barry Island this month. I always wanted to visit Barry Island but kept waiting for good weather (warm and sunny) and the trip never happened. So this month when I went to Cardiff for a weekend and the weather was warm and sunny, I decided to seize the opportunity.

Barry Island is really close to Cardiff; a 30min train ride from Cardiff Central. We got a small group price for the train tickets which worked out to £3.30 per person. Upon reaching Barry Island train station we realised that Barry Island is a “no alcohol zone”. Anyways we made our way to the “Pleasure Park” and were greeted by a very compact area filled with 7-8 rides in total. Luckily for me, 4-5 of them were actually thrill rides. All rides at the Pleasure Park use coupons which were surprisingly really cheap. They are even cheaper if you buy in bulk and work out to less than 70p a coupon (the most expensive ride needed 3 coupons).

So after sitting on all the rides and having all my internal organs tossed around, we made our way to the beach. Frankly I was very pleasantly surprised by the beach- it was a proper sand beach and not a pebbles/ stone beach. The view from the beach was gorgeous! It was a lagoon with a long cliff running along one side. Being very ambitious we decided to walk along the boulders below the cliff and somehow make our way to the top. Needless to say, it was an interesting climb.

Ah the view from the cliff! It was breathtakingly beautiful with the beach at the back and the sea in front. There were benches placed along the edge of the cliff for people to enjoy the view. As you can imagine, the wind was crazy on top of the cliff and made walking around quite a challenge. Despite the weather elements, we soaked in the view and indulged in photography. (All of us forgot to bring our cameras so we were using our phones)

Summer of 2008

Number of Countries visited: 5

1. Sweden
2. Denmark
3. United Kingdom
4. France
5. India
   

Number of days in each country

• Sweden: 5
• Denmark: 5
• United Kingdom: 45
• France: 3
• India: 11

Number of days in Singapore: 8

Number to airports travelled through: 6

1. Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2. Arlanda airport, Stockholm, Sweden
3. Københavns Lufthavn airport,Copenhagen, Denmark
4. Changi airport, Singapore
5. Chattrapathi Shivaji International airport, Mumbai, India
6. Heathrow airport, London, United Kingdom

Number of flights taken: 8

1. Singapore - Amsterdam
2. Amsterdam - Stockholm
3. Copenhagen - Amsterdam
4. Amsterdam - Singapore
   
5. Singapore – Mumbai
6. Mumbai – London
7. London – Mumbai
8. Mumbai – Singapore

Courses cleared: 3

1. BSM Scandinavia at SMU
2. Business development and ICT Innovation at LSE
3. E-business in the Digital Age at LSE

Friends made: Countless

Memories created: Priceless

It was a memorable summer. It was the best one of my life so far. A wonderful to way to spend my last summer as a student.

Taste of Scandinavia in Singapore

So today officially marks the end of the pre-trip preparatory classes. Over the course of these classes we had 3-4 guest speakers, visited 3 companies, 2 presentations and 2 out-of-class gatherings. All in all it has been a nice introduction to all things Scandinavian.

The out-of-class gatherings have been the most fun!
The first one we went for was the Young Scandinavian Professionals networking session at Indochine (Clark Quay). It was a nice relaxed evening with drinks, classmates and young professional Swedes. I not only got to learn more about Scandinavia, I also got to know my fellow BSMers. I personally felt that that was the most important take-away of that evening. After the networking session we went for the Lifestyle Launch party at Barfly. There our group got photographed by the magazine photographer and we got our 5 seconds of fame :)

Our next out-of-class outing was a dinner reception at the Swedish ambassador's house. Now I have to tell you he has the most beautiful, breath-taking house I have ever seen in Singapore! Once again the evening was lovely. Mingling with the ambassador, his beautiful wife, some other Swedish people, Tom (our prof) and fellow BSMers was a needed change from the hectic schedule I have been having. Most importantly I got to wear my little black dress again after my birthday!


Anyways after hearing just how wonderful Scandinavia is, I am really excited about finally going there. Good thing too cause only 9 days are left! Just wish I didn't have 4 exams before that...

The countdown to the awesome summer has begun!

30 days from today for me to fly off to Scandinavia..

I am still overwhelmed at the thought of going to Sweden and Denmark. Each time I go for a BSM class it seems more and more real. I am getting really excited. The trip is not a simple tourist trip, it us a business study mission. We will be making company visits and be required to keep a daily journal to be handed in at the end of the trip. That sure brings some pressure along on the trip. But well no complains as I still get to travel extensively.

During the classes and via a lot of literature, I have gotten to know more and more about Scandinavia. Scandinavian culture, weather, food and lifestyle is so vastly different from what I have been exposed to living in India and Singapore.

I will be there during the summer time. For them summer means highest temperature of 20deg C and 18 hours of daylight in a day! The Scandinavian region is also known to be very windy as it is very high up north in the world. That explains the long-long summer days as well. This also means that even in summer some regions experience snowfall..

Food wise it is so different. The common meat is pork. Beef is considered the rich man’s food while chicken is rare! Potatoes are very common though fish is the most abundant. The fish is usually pickled with the most varied of ingredients. I’m actually considering going vegetarian for the 10 days I will be there.. Oh and they like their food salty. That goes for their candy as well! Their water is supposed “to be the best water in the world”, in the words of a Swede. So yup looking forward to tasting their water.

We’ll be staying at 3 different hotels. 1 in Stockholm for 4 days, 1 in Almhult for a day and 1 in Copenhagen for 5 days. In between we will be travelling all around these cities in chartered bus. It is going to quite the adventure. I just wish I had better company along with me on the trip. Good company is integral to having the maximum fun out of a trip anywhere!

Some photos of Denmark

Some photos of Sweden

My visit to Haji Ali Darga

On Sunday I visited the famous Haji Ali Darga in Bombay. It was quite an experience. It was not my first time to a darga as I have been brought up visiting the Ajmer darga. It was in fact the travel to the darga that made it such an experience.

I went there with Param, Kanu, Crystal and Boon. As might be evident, Crystal and Boon are Chinese and were visiting the darga purely for tourist purposes. We 3 Indians consisted of 1 Sikh and 2 Hindus. We made a very religiously diverse group. Shows just how secular India is.

The walk on the causeway leading to the darga was an exhausting one. The sun was shining in all its glory and the crowds swelled as each minute passed. Pushing ahead and sweating buckets, we made the walk to the main entrance of the darga. On the way we were greeted with various sights; beggers- handicapped, desolate, hungry.. yet praying; vendors- selling knickknacks, snacks, balloons, religious items and various others. What got my attention was a vendor selling cassettes of Arabic chants at one point playing Hindu devotional songs. It really touched my heart.

The sun was shining so bad that my sweat was getting into my eyes..even as i was wearing my shades. We girls all had scarves on our heads for the purpose of respecting the doctrine of the darga. But I was more thankful for it shielding our heads from the harsh rays of the sun. Once we removed our footwear, we realized just how hot the floor was. The guys were lucky as they had their socks. Poor us girls, our feet were literally getting baked on the hot stone flooring. Hopping in and out of the little shade we made (squeezed) our way in the main area to offer our offerings and to pay our respects. There was a separate area of females and males. Seemed like a good idea; in terms of the crowd, security and stuff. However I wasn't too pleased as when we went in as far as we could, I found out that females couldn't even touch the tomb. Big disappointment for me as I am used to the full access everyone gets in the darga in Ajmer. Also the chaotic manner in which the offerings were being offered resulted in only Param getting back her offering. Mine was lost in the melee. Another disappoint as compared to darga in Ajmer where no matter the size of the crowd, each person always got back their offerings.

All in all it was a good visit to a revered place. I felt good being in a spiritual place after a long time.

To find out more about the Haji Ali Darga you can visit these sites,
http://www.haji-ali.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haji_Ali_Dargah

The view of the causeway leading to the darga on the islet

View of the darga

The main hall where the tomb is. You can also see the colourful chaddars offered

The crowd on the causeway. This photo shows the way back to the city

Crystal, Kanu, Me and Param against the darga

Crystal, Boon, Me and Param on the causeway against the darga

Ajmer...my home

We reached the motherland when we landed in Delhi airport and continued our onward journey to Ajmer. We finally reached our final destination and it was the most joyous moment was when we reached home to be welcomed by Baby Masi and Nanisab (maternal grandmother). I feel so warm each time I see them; I love them so much. Although we were exhausted from the whole day of travelling, the excitement of being home got to us. Everyone was chatting away; spilling travel tales, bringing out the gifts. The feeling of being home was finally sinking in.

My Nani's home in Ajmer for me is my home in India. For me Ajmer is my city, I know the place and the people; it is always great to be back in Ajmer. Actually Ajmer is my mother's city; she was born and brought up there. She studied there, made her career there and was married off from there. The greatest gift she gave my sister and I was when she decided that her children would be born in this lovely city of Ajmer- Sharif.

Speaking of which, like always my family made a trip to the darga. It is such a spiritual experience going there and even more meaningful as we went there a day before Eid. The crowd and the atmosphere were amazing. We were also lucky to witness the daig being functional. The daig is a massive cooking pot in the darga and is large enough for an adult person to stand in. A kind of porridge is cooked in it to be handed out to the poor. The most amazing thing is that when the cooking is done, the people serving the food jump into the boiling porridge to scoop it out. No one ever burns; power of faith.

Other than the darga, we made our usual visit to Pushkar which is a small holly valley-town 2 hours away from Ajmer. Other than its beautiful temples and ghats, it boosts a vibrant and modern tourist market. The market caters to the tourists due to which you can find spaghetti strap tops, tube tops, ultra miniskirts, Arabian pants, hot pants and the kind being sold in ethnic prints and materials. This is quite a shock as the state of Rajasthan is a conservative state.

Being in Ajmer also means watching movies with Raju Mama and going to Mango Masala. The best part is my sister, Raju Mama and me ride on his motorcycle. Add to the bike ride the winter cold, the fun factor gets upped seriously once we're zipping around town on the bike.

Following the things Ajmer means for me and my family, we celebrated our New Year there. It was a small and simple New Year with family and my mother's best friend and her husband. We played crazy games, had a crazy dance item (by Paru, Chotu Didi and me) and had a delicious pineapple cake.

Our sumptuous New Year pineapple cake

Raju Mama and Paru

With Baby Masi, NaniSab, Geeta Masi, Chotu Didi, Paru and Mummy

Geeta Masi and my NaniSab

The daig being emptied

With Paru, Chotu Didi, Mummy and Geeta Masi in Darga

Chotu Didi, Paru and me at the Phushkar ghat

One of the ghats of Pushkar

The VISA ad set in India

I’m sure by now all of us have seen the VISA ad set in India at least once. I like that ad. Its very colourful, the music is melodious, there is Richard Gere, and of course it is set in India. I have to confess I am a sucker for all things Indian, yes even the guys.

Anyways like I was saying i really liked that ad. The simplicity and innocence of the girl is so believable. Of course Richard Gere purchasing 101 birds for the girl is a little far-fetched but still I’ll take it. Now what makes this ad even more special is that i just visited the very place where the ad was shot when i was in India in December holidays. It made it all so much cooler!

The two photos below were taken at the mentioned place, the place of Jodhpur in the state of Rajasthan, India. This was the last parting shot in the ad. I feel proud whenever I watch that ad (and I watch it very often while waiting for the MRT). It is just cool to have been to a place that has been acknowledged as mention worthy by the media. Guess it is all human psychology.